Ted Morton, a fellow at the University of Calgary School of Public Policy and former Alberta energy minister, is among influential Albertans who feel B.C. is making unreasonable demands on the Canadian federation.

Alberta desperately wants a pipeline built across a reluctant B.C., but not badly enough to court Ottawa’s constitutional intervention.

So says Ted Morton, who was Alberta’s energy minister until April, when he was defeated in his riding by a Wildrose candidate.

Morton is clearly frustrated by B.C.’s apparent unwillingness to accommodate new pipelines to the west coast. In an phone interview this week from Calgary, he remarked: “B.C. has been making unreasonable demands of the federation since 1870. We should be used to it by now.”

He referred to B.C.’s lofty demand for a railway as a precondition for entering Confederation.

However, Morton acknowledged, B.C.’s curent concerns about the Northern Gateway proposal, involving aboriginal consultation and environmental safeguards, are not unreasonable.

Nonetheless, Morton’s is one among many voices from the oil-rich province starting to speak out about what they view as B.C.’s refusal to act in the national interest.

New pipelines would bring $131 billion in cross-Canada benefits between 2016 and 2030, according to a study last fall by the University of Calgary School of Public Policy.

Morton, a fellow at the school, is a proponent of the “Calgary School” of political theory embraced by Stephen Harper. In fact, he helped Harper write a notorious 2001 paper, recommending Alberta build a firewall around itself.

Writing last November, Morton argued that unilateral federal intervention in the B.C. pipeline issue would set too dangerous a precedent. Alberta fought hard for, and covets ownership and control of its resources, and wouldn’t risk granting Ottawa a formal role in resolving the Gateway dispute.

Some have suggested Ottawa could use its constitutional authority over interprovincial works like railways and canals (and, in 2013, presumably pipelines) to force the pipeline through B.C.

Or, it could deploy a declaratory power in the Constitution — decreeing Gateway to be “for the general advantage of Canada.”

Such interventions are tempting, admits Morton. But “now is not the time for Alberta to abandon its historical defence of provincial rights.”

Federal intervention could “open the door for some future government that is not favourably disposed toward Alberta or the oilsands. ... Thomas Mulcair and the NDP come to mind.”

Alternatively, if a joint federal review panel rejects the development next December following its extensive hearings, Harper could still use the Crown’s power to sanction Gateway. But Morton believes such a move would be untenable.

On oil and gas, B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan should be working to further common interests.

Morton wants premiers Alison Redford and Christy Clark to renew a discussion about pipelines. “The relationship got off on the wrong foot, unfortunately. They should spend some time rehabilitating it.”

While negotiations with B.C. could become more difficult should Adrian Dix become premier in May, Morton hopes the NDP leader would recognize the oil pipeline and port would translate into “a lot of job opportunities for B.C. families.”

Morton also wants the Harper government to start playing a lead role in brokering a B.C.-Alberta compromise.

Ottawa, he says, should invest new money into upgrading transportation infrastructure across B.C., with its Pacific Gateway strategy being a model.

The feds also should upgrade regulations governing port and tanker operations, says Morton, suggesting “an environmental tax to ensure the maritime transportation component [port and tanker operations] meets the highest standards of safety and accident recovery in the world.”

Meanwhile, a poll Monday by Port Moody-based Insights West underscored the Alberta-B.C. divide in public support for Northern Gateway, with just 18 per cent opposing it in Alberta, but 61 per cent in B.C.

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